Merry and Bright...

If I ever needed an excuse to make things pretty, Christmas is the time. I have been pleading with Will to get a tree since right after Thanksgiving and we finally picked one up yesterday. It's our first "official" Christmas tree, since last year we cut down a budget friendly Charlie Brown tree behind Will's parents house. I had to make paper ornaments because everything weighed down the tiny sapling branches. This year I was able to dig out Will's grandmother's handmade, straw decorations and my own miscellaneous assortment and loaded our tree with as much sparkle as I could scrape together without spending a penny. I discovered a bag of clear ornaments, purchased for the intention of last year's gifts and filled them with feathers, moss and shredded sheets of music. I used a flea market tapestry as a tree rug and cut extra boughs of pine for the mantle. My next holiday DIY project will be handmade dream catchers and paper chains but for now our home has the warm glow of the holidays. Creating "home" the way my mother always managed despite her empty bank account is something I hope I will never lose touch with.  Something about the glowing lights and smell of pine drives all the gloom of New England winter away...